The movie begins with a dream sequence as 23-year old Patti Dombrowksi aka Dumbo (Danielle Macdonald) fantasizes about being introduced onstage as a rap star. She awakens to find herself in the harsh reality of her existence. She lives in a rundown New Jersey home with her sleazy alcoholic mother (Bridget Everett) who gave up her music career because she was pregnant with Patti. They share the home with Nana (Cathy Moriarty), Patti’s sick old grandmother who sits in her recliner coughing as she watches television all day.

Patti’s work life is not much better. She works in a crummy little bar doing everything from serving drinks to unclogging toilets, in addition to a second job – all to help her mother pay the bills. Her only relief is rapping with her good friend (Siddharth Dhananjay), who works as a pharmacy technician, and offers her emotional support. One night they encounter a strangely violent rapper with a scary new style that intrigues Patti. Known as Basterd the Antichrist (Mamoudou Athie), the man’s mysteriousness is so alluring to Patti that future interactions are inevitable.

An Overweight Underdog

In fact, so much of the film works on stereotypes and cliches that its tiresomeness is rivaled only by its dreariness. Obviously the overweight underdog will succeed in her dreams at some point, but watching her suffer through life until then makes for an uncomfortable movie-going experience.

The actors throw themselves fully into their roles for this little indie film that recently made the festival circuit (including Florida Film Festival), before being picked up by Fox Searchlight. However, full immersion into this profane, misogynistic, drug-infested existence isn’t somewhere that every viewer will want to go. Rappers, singers, poets, and other outcasts and underdogs might find the film most relatable.

Patti Cake$

An obese 23-year-old white woman dreams of becoming a rap star and leaving her depressing life in New Jersey.